A Little Bird Told Me
by Calliope6
Summary: An old Konoha love fable seems to be playing out right in front of Naruto’s eyes, and leading him right into the arms of the girl of his dreams. But will his perfect little story turn out for him the way he expects it? (warning: sasunaru shounen-ai in p
1. Default Chapter

A Little Bird Told Me -a Naruto fan fiction by Calliope-  
  
Message: This is NOT a continuation of my two previous stories. It may have the same theme but other than that they're unrelated. This ones a little more light- hearted than my other story, less of a downer, and more just for my own satisfaction.  
  
Summery: An old Konoha love fable seems to be playing out right in front of Naruto's eyes, and leading him right into the arms of the girl of his dreams. But will his perfect little story turn out for him the way he expects it? It seems the outcome can be uncertain when hopeless loves are involved.  
  
Warning: sasunaru *shounen-ai* in part two  
  
Sleeping the day away was something Naruto would have been more than pleased to do, however, duty called and another day of tireless exercises and training routines lay ahead of him. But more to the fact, was that a horrible screeching sound emanating from just outside his window would not allow him peace enough to sleep anyway.  
  
"Damn it all to hell," He groaned, rolling out of bed and landing with a deliberate thud on the hard wooden floor. "Maybe if I just lay here forever, I'll just die and not have to get up." he thought hopefully. But the incessant cawing sound taunted him from outside, as if yelling at him to get up.  
  
Bitter and yawning he got to his feet and rubbed his eyes. The sky outside his window was still dim, and to the left, roosting calmly on the top of a telephone pole was the perpetrator of the aggravating noises.  
  
"Stupid crow." Naruto sighed, lifting up the window and leaning his head out. "Shut up you stupid bird!" he yelled at it. Oddly enough though, it did. The large black bird turned its head swiftly in Naruto's direction, making him jump, feeling as though it was staring right at him.  
  
"Creepy bird." He muttered under his breath, pulling his head back in the window and thinking nothing more of it.  
  
Naruto went about his morning routine, stretching, washing, getting dress and eating his instant Ramen (the best part of the morning in his opinion), and as he stood at his mirror tying his head protector on he saw an irking reflection over his shoulder. Whirling around he found that the large black crow had perched itself on his open window ledge and was now watching him intently.  
  
"Hey! Get out of here!" He shouted at it, waving his arms and trying to scare it away. But it just sat there.  
  
A few steps away from it, Naruto stopped, watching the bird curiously as it stared back at him.  
  
"What do you want?" Naruto asked the bird, half forgetting it wouldn't answer him. After a moment of awkward silence Naruto shook his head and left, ignoring the irksome bird, and leaving it to sit silently on his windowsill.  
  
* * * * * *  
  
"Naruto! You're late!" his lovely and bitter pink haired teammate yelled at him scornfully when he arrived at their decided meeting point. "For goodness sake even Kakashi-sensei's here!"  
  
"Sorry Sakura-chan." Naruto apologized, noting his, religiously-late, teacher's presence and wondering just how long he'd been in his room staring at that bird.  
  
"What in the world were you doing?!" Sakura scolded him, arm crossed firmly across her chest, looking even more put off than usual.  
  
"I wasn't doing anything!" Naruto defended himself, "There was this freaky crow and,"  
  
No sooner had the words left his mouth when a large black bird swooped down out of the trees and landed on a near by fence post.  
  
"See! That's it!" Naruto shouted, pointing at the bird, which let out a little caw and crooked its head to the side.  
  
"Oh for heavens sake it's just a bird! Now lets just get going!" Sakura shook her head, disbelieving of his moronity.  
  
* * * * * *  
  
The morning faded into afternoon more or less without incident, or further sighting of Naruto's mysterious bird.  
  
"God damn it you idiot!" Sasuke shouted at Naruto, cringing and grabbing the back of his right arm just below his sleeve.  
  
"Ack! Sorry Sasuke!" Naruto apologized, running over to his wounded teammate. Sasuke lifted his hand from the back of his arm and examined the blood on his fingers. Naruto dropped his remaining shurinken on the ground and moved to help Sasuke with the cut which he had inflicted on him.  
  
"Get away from me!" Sasuke snapped at him, "You know, you're not supposed to hurt your own team mates!"  
  
"Hey it was an accident!" Naruto defended himself, his almost daily dose of anger towards Sasuke welling up inside of him.  
  
"Naruto! What'd you do!" Sakura shrieked at him, running up from behind them. She pushed Naruto aside and rushed over to Sasuke's side. "Are you ok Sasuke?"  
  
The way Sakura doted on Sasuke drove Naruto absolutely mad. There was no winning with her. He could do anything in the world and she'd still find a way to hate him. As a matter of fact if the world were to end tomorrow, in Naruto's mind, Sakura would still find a way to blame it on him. She didn't care at all if he liked her, she only cared about Sasuke. Even if he were to promise her everything she could ever want, she'd give it all up in a heartbeat for ten minutes alone with Sasuke.  
  
"Hello?!" Kakashi's voice yelled at them from across the field, "If somebody's not dying I don't see why we're stopping."  
  
"Naruto hurt Sasuke-kun!" Sakura tattled on him in an immature "he's- a-big-fat-stupid-head" kinda' way.  
  
"Sasuke? You gonna' live?" Kakashi inquired.  
  
"Of course!" Sasuke scowled, pulling his arm away from Sakura.  
  
"Stupid Sasuke and his stupid superiority complex." Naruto muttered bitterly, turning his back to them and picking his shurinken up off the ground.  
  
As he grabbed for the last one a pair of bright red feet came down out of no where and snatched up the star shaped piece of metal.  
  
"Hey! What the hell!" Naruto looked up and saw the black crow carrying off his shurinken, and settling down with it up high in the branches of a near by tree. Naruto ran to the foot of the tree and glared up at the bird, who cawed at him mockingly.  
  
"What in the world's the problem?" Kakashi asked irritably, as he walked over to where Naruto was staring at the tree for reasons unexplained.  
  
"It's that crow again!" Naruto began to rave, "It took my shurinken! What the hell dose it want from me!"  
  
Sakura, who was doing her best to bandage Sasuke's arm as he walked, scowled at him fervently as they made their way over and looked up into the branches.  
  
"What are you staring at, idiot?" Sakura groaned, not noticing the bird.  
"It's Nayoko!" Kakashi laughed, scratching the back of his head.  
  
"It's what?" Naruto asked.  
  
"Nayoko." He repeated again, "See how she has red feet?" Kakashi pointed out, Sasuke and Sakura gazed up into the thick leaves, finally picking out the dark bird's bright red feet hiding amongst the green foliage.  
  
"Why are its feet red?" Naruto wondered aloud.  
  
"HER feet are red because of her shoes." he said matter-of-factly, as if it were just common knowledge.  
  
"Crows don't ware shoes." Sakura snipped, hands on her hips, looking annoyed that they had stopped for a useless bird.  
  
"Ah, but girls do." Kakashi pointed out, none of them understanding the relevance of the fact. He sighed, noting the blank looks on their faces. "Don't you know the story about Nayoko?"  
  
"Ooo! No! Tell me!" Naruto shouted enthusiastically, eager to find out what was so special about his stalker crow.  
  
"Shut up Naruto, you're wasting our time." Sasuke said coldly.  
  
"You shut up, Fuck-face!" Naruto snapped at him.  
  
"What'd you call me!?" Sasuke inquired harshly, his one hand clenched in a tight fist and his other still holding his bleeding arm.  
  
"You heard me! Fuck-face!" Naruto shouted again, getting up in Sasuke's face.  
  
"Hey you two that's enough." Kakashi sighed calmly, wacking Naruto (who was nearest to him) on the back of the head.  
  
"Sensei!" Naruto whined.  
  
"Do you wanna hear the story or not?" Kakashi asked again, ignoring Naruto's agitated tone.  
  
"Ooo! Yes!" Naruto pepped up again. Sasuke and Sakura sighed in unison, giving up their pointless fight against Naruto's will.  
  
"Well, it's supposed to be that if you're visited by the Red Footed Crow it means you'll find true love." Kakashi began to explain.  
  
"So then why the heck is she bothering me?" Naruto cut in, looking up at the crow who replied to his glance with a tentative caw.  
  
"She's wants to help you."  
  
"What? What's she wanna do that for!?"  
  
"Nayoko's suppose to be the Guide of Hopeless Loves."  
  
"So Naruto's hopeless?" Sakura snickered.  
  
"Hey! I am not!"  
  
"Don't think of it as a bad thing," Kakashi laughed, "they say a jilted spirit is never wrong."  
  
"What's that supposed to mean?" Sakura asked, still trying to pretend to be uninterested.  
  
"Well, the story goes that Nayoko was a shinobi girl who lived in Konoha years and years and years ago. She was supposed to have been incredibly skilled and talented, and her trademark was these bright red sandals she always wore. Hence the red feet." He nodded, "But Nayoko was supposedly in love with this highly skilled Anbu warrior, so much so that she never even realized that her best friend was tremendously in love with her. The Anbu she was in love with, however, didn't feel the same way about her and so she killed herself feeling that no one was ever going to love her. But her friend, the one who was actually in love with her all along, found her dying and told her how he felt. So they say her soul was reborn inside of a red footed crow and Nayoko goes around trying to save other people from making the same mistake as her by not realizing the loves that are so near to them."  
  
Naruto looked up at the bird again, who cawed a few times before flipping his shurinken down from the branches.  
  
"Don't think of her as something bad, think of her as a map, guiding you to the one you're meant for."  
  
"So how's she gonna' do that?"  
  
"I have no idea." Kakashi shrugged, "I've never actually seen Nayoko before. I thought she was just a stupid story that mothers told to their ugly daughters."  
  
"HEY!" Naruto scowled, as Sakura and Sasuke both tried to suppress their snickers.  
  
* * * * * *  
  
It was hard for Naruto to concentrate the rest of the evening, as all he was able to think of was Nayoko. The ominous bird had been flapping around all day, watching them as they worked. Once Sasuke had even tried to scare it off by throwing kunai at it, but to no avail.  
  
That evening they headed back towards the school, Nayoko flying along ahead of them, disappearing and reappearing randomly.  
  
"Man, I hope she's here to hook me up with Sakura-chan!" Naruto thought excitedly as he walked along side her. "I mean, after all, that is a pretty hopeless love!" just the idea gave him goose bumps. Him and pretty, strong, intelligent Sakura, now THAT would be great. He looked over at her, walking along side him with her nose in the air, and her silky cherry-blossom pink hair ruffling in the breeze. To him she was like a cynical sort of angel, put on earth just to torment him.  
  
"This is ridiculous!" Sakura scowled, shattering his lovely vision as she saw Nayoko again and picked up a rock in her hand, "Why wont that horrible bird just go away!" she pulled back her arm to throw the rock at the crow but Naruto caught her arm mid swing.  
  
"Hey! Don't do that!"  
  
"Why not?! It's driving me crazy!"  
  
"It's not your bird, so leave it alone."  
  
"Oh for heavens sake..." she scowled again, giving Naruto and nasty look and running ahead to catch up with Sasuke.  
  
Naruto scowled himself, watching as she grabbed hold of his arm; a huge indulgent smile on her face. Sasuke was his nemesis in damn near everything. Naruto loathed him with every fiber of his being, and yet, he seemed doomed to be in envy of him forever. He could only wish it was his arm that Sakura clung to so readily.  
  
"What do you want from me?!" Naruto thought to Nayoko in his head as he watched her come swooping down across the road and land gracefully on a near by mail box, her bright red feet blending with the matching paint.  
  
* * * * * *  
  
When they arrived at the school Kakashi insisted that Sasuke receive stitches for the wound Naruto had given him earlier as the back of his arm had yet to quit bleeding, and sent him and Naruto down to see the nurse.  
  
"You can go now you know." Sasuke told Naruto monotonously as they sat, waiting quietly, in the stark white nurses office.  
  
"Yeah well, Kakashi-sensei told me to come with you, and besides," he laughed lightly, "Im thinking that maybe if I stay inside long enough that bird will get bored and fly away." By now his thoughts of Nayoko had started to become a little spiteful, as the hopelessness of his love for Sakura seemed more than even a, supposedly, magical crow could remedy.  
  
Sasuke didn't reciprocate Naruto's humored feeling and just sat quietly staring down at the floor. The two sat, in awkward silence, neither one saying a word.  
  
Sasuke's cold, nonchalant, demeanor, always gave Naruto the chills. Just watching the ominous, dark haired boy gave him the shivers. His morbid aura was a night and day contrast from Naruto's own intense, sun shine, persona. Which was all the more reasons for them to be rivals (at least in Naruto's mind).  
  
Moments later the nurse came in and instructed Sasuke to take a seat on her table. Undoing the blood soaked, makeshift dressing on Sasuke's arm Naruto could clearly see the damage which he'd inflicted on his team mate. Sasuke's skin had been sliced through like a hot knife would through butter by the razor sharp edges of Naruto's shurinken. Edging closer, Naruto watched as the nurse wiped away the oozing blood, causing Sasuke to cringe.  
  
"Your handy work?" she inquired, looking up at Naruto as she began to prep her tools.  
  
"Uh, yeah." Naruto grinned sheepishly. "Sorry bout that Sasuke." he nodded, scratching at the back of his neck. Naruto couldn't help but cringe too when he saw her pulling out a fresh needle. The idea of the wire thin metal piercing Sasuke's flesh slowly and deliberately made his throat tighten.  
  
"Do you want and anaesthetic?" she asked Sasuke, with a disconcerned tone in her voice.  
  
"No." he shook his head, never making eye contact with her. Naruto was irked to see that Sasuke was so calm, even in the face of deliberate impalement.  
  
Naruto watched tentatively as she rubbed his deep wound with antiseptic, and he could see the way Sasuke's eyes widened, as it no doubt stung horribly. Slowly she pierced his skin, and the young boy seethed through clenched teeth, his obvious pain showing on his face for only a moment before he pushed it aside again and resumed looking morbid.  
  
"You don't gotta' put on a tough guy act for me." Naruto snickered, "If it hurts just say so."  
  
"Shut up idiot." Sasuke shot him a bitter look, "This is YOUR fault you know."  
  
Naruto shrugged and hopped up on to the table next to Sasuke, jarring it ever so slightly and causing the nurse to shoot him an equally ugly look as she was trying to pull the thread through Sasuke's arm. Naruto looked down and noticed the way he was clenching his fists so tightly, his nails pressing deep into his palms as he withheld all expression from his face.  
  
Reaching down Naruto turned his hand out to Sasuke, who without stopping to think, took hold of him, squeezing his hand incredibly hard. But Naruto didn't mind, after all, it was the least he could do as it was his fault anyhow.  
  
* * * * * *  
  
Ten stitches later Sasuke's arm was redressed and they were sent off on their way again.  
  
"You know, I really am sorry about that." Naruto said again as they wondered back down the hallway.  
  
"Whatever." Sasuke shrugged.  
  
* * * * * *  
  
Naruto had all but forgotten about his little stalker when he arrived home that evening. Showering and changing his clothes he sat down on the edge of his bed tiered and bored. Flopping down against his soft mattress he stared at the ceiling a while wondering what to do; but he wasn't left wondering long as an unexpected visitor came to rest just outside his window. A shrill cry caught his attention and he wandered over to the window, leaning on the sill and sticking his head out.  
  
"You. What do you want!?" Naruto yelled at the dark feathered bird, who didn't answer, but just sat there, looking at him with a crooked stare.  
  
Jumping from its perch the bird came to rest again on the window sill, Naruto sitting back on the floor and looking up at her, her bright red feet gripping at the wood.  
  
"I don't know how you expect to help me." Naruto shrugged, beginning to carry on a conversation with the bird, never stopping to think it was odd, "Sakura-chan will never notice me no matter how hard you try. Trust me, I know. She think's im an idiot."  
  
Somehow it started to feel good to vent all his thoughts to the crow, who had by now, hopped inside and was perched on the back of a chair, listening intently as Naruto paced about the room talking incessantly.  
  
"And Sasuke! Sasuke that bastard. He's got it all doesn't he, god damn it!" He continued to seethe, "Strength, skill, talent, coordination, speed, smarts, AND Sakura! He's got everything I don't! Him and his stupid Sharingan too!" Just the thought of Sasuke and his perfection was building up an intense anger in Naruto's chest.  
  
"Perfect hair, perfect smile, perfect body, perfect eyes, perfect EVERYTHING!" Naruto yelled, ruffling his own long, spiky, blond tresses angrily with his hands.  
  
"Maybe Sakura's right, maybe I am just an idiot." he finally sighed, slouching down against the wall and pulling his knees up to his chest. Visions of Sasuke were plaguing his mind. There wasn't a bit of him Naruto couldn't see vividly in his head. Sasuke was the embodiment of everything Naruto had worked so hard to become, and yet, he was still Naruto and Sasuke was still Sasuke. Better than him, in every way.  
  
There were times when it felt as though Sasuke were the Shinigami himself, as every thing he did he seemed to do with at least some sort of malice. But then again, he began to think. Staring down at his hand Naruto thought back to the nurses office; how Sasuke had held his hand so tightly, almost as if he would crush his fingers. But yet, Naruto hadn't felt threatened by him at all, if anything Sasuke's silent suffering had pulled at his heart strings and made him feel horribly bad about what he'd done, because it'd become evident to him then that even Sasuke Uchiha was vulnerable to at least so degree of pain.  
  
Snapping back to reality Naruto jumped up and walked over the window, looking out over the sleepy village outstretched bellow him and off into the distance where the stars were slowly beginning to appear over the mountains. Somehow he found himself unable to stay inside. So without bothering to put on socks or shoes he jumped out the window and on to the edge of the roof below.  
  
"Later Nayoko!" he shouted up to the red footed bird, who was watching him from the sill as he jumped down to the ground bellow.  
  
* * * * * *  
  
Wondering the ever darkening streets aimlessly Naruto found himself wondering about the true nature of Sasuke Uchiha. All of the irrational things hed found himself saying earlier were sounding more and more ludicrous the more he thought them over in his head. Sasuke really wasn't a bad person, Naruto just couldn't make himself admit that he was just so insanely jealous of him. Everything about Sasuke's perfection seemed to consume him, just the way his own desirers for personal perfection did.  
  
Stopping in the middle of the road Naruto looked back over his shoulder in the direction of Sasuke's house. He was debating going over and telling him he was sorry again, and this time actually meaning it. But it was late. There was no point anyway, Sasuke'd just send him home and never listen to a word he said anyhow.  
  
Just then, Nayoko came hopping across Naruto's path, her bright red feet seeming to glow ever so slightly in the darkness.  
  
"Hey there." Naruto sighed.  
  
"Wark!" Nayoko replied, cawing at him.  
  
"Well?" Naruto asked, his hands on his hips, "What do you want now?"  
  
She waddled over to him and pecked at his exposed toes, making him jump back.  
  
"Hey! Cut it out!"  
  
"Wark! Wark!" she cawed again, flapping her wings madly.  
  
"What? What do you want?!" Naruto shouted at her. "Boy, Sakura was right," he sighed, "you are a crack head."  
  
Weather this offended her or just set her off he couldn't tell, but the large black bird began crowing incessantly, flapping her wings and hopping up and down wildly.  
  
"Hey! Hey! Shut the hell up!" Naruto yelled, bending down and grabbing at the flustered bird, trying to keep her from waking everyone up. Just as he had his hands around her she flew off down the road and landed a ways off, cawing over and over again.  
  
"What?" Naruto said again, "You want me to fallow you, is that it, you freak bird?"  
  
Nayoko gave a short cry and flew off again a little further down the road. Sighing, and thinking to himself how stupid this was, Naruto fallowed the belligerent bird down the winding village streets.  
  
* * * * * *  
  
Stopping every now and again to let him catch up, Nayoko seemed to be traveling in an erratic path, leading him up and down ally ways and behind buildings, all leading to nowhere in particular.  
  
"Do you have any idea where you're going?" Naruto inquired mournfully, his bare feet beginning to sting as the cold dirt road under them was rough and stony. But just then, he realized they were heading slowly in the direction of Sakura's house.  
  
A wave of excitement washed over him as he remembered just what it was this seemingly demented bird was supposed to be doing.  
  
"Sakura." he smiled, looking down the road in her direction. If she was really leading him towards her house, then this was the best thing that had ever happened to him. Could he and Sakura really be meant to be together? He didn't even care how stupid and unlikely the idea was, he just felt his excitement building up inside of him and making his ears tingle.  
  
"Alright Nayoko! Lead away!" He shouted up at her as she circled over head.  
  
Taking off at a full run Naruto fallowed the bird closely as she glided along in front of him, twisting her way through the streets.  
  
"Yes! Yes! Yes!" Naruto began to think, his impatient excitement building the nearer they came to her house. This was what he'd always wanted. To be "destined" to be with Sakura, his fiery, cherry-blossom, goddess.  
  
He was breathing harder and harder as he ran, haphazardly, along behind his shadowy guide; his heart feeling as though it were beating in his throat.  
  
"I'm almost there Sakura-chan!" he smiled widely as he rounded the corner just before her house.  
  
Unfortunately for him however, every seemingly perfect scenario has its flaws. And Naruto found himself colliding head-long with another person as he ran full tilt around the corner, hitting hard and sending them both sprawling across the ground.  
  
Continued... 


	2. A Little Bird Told Me part two

A Little Bird Told Me (Part Two) -a Naruto fan fiction by Calliope-  
  
Message: Continuation of "A Little Bird Told Me"  
  
Summery: After Naruto's seemingly perfect chance at getting the girl of his dreams goes horribly awry he finds himself in close quarters with the last person he would have ever expected, Sasuke Uchiha.  
  
Warning: sasunaru *shounen-ai*  
  
The story says that, "Nayoko, the Red Footed Crow will lead you to the person you are destined to be with, as she in the Guide of Hopeless Loves". And that was what he'd been expecting, so how was it that instead of being in the arms of the love of his life, Naruto had found himself sprawled out on the ground in the middle of the street with Sasuke Uchiha's elbow jabbing him in the ear?!  
  
"ACK! FUCK! GOD DAMN IT NARUTO!" Sasuke was shouting at him at the top of his lungs, grabbing at his arm and flailing on the ground, trying to kick Naruto off of him.  
  
"Sasuke! What the fuck?!" Naruto jumped up, tripping as he did so and landing back down on the ground, hit his tail bone hard against the road. "Oww!"  
  
"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!" Sasuke seethed over and over again through clenched teeth as he lay on his back grabbing at his arm.  
  
"What the hell's wrong?" Naruto scowled at him getting back up and dusting himself off.  
  
Standing over Sasuke as he could see a dark red puddle spreading out from around Saskue's shoulder as he lay on his back in the road way. He had his hand clutched tight over the back of his right arm, and his eyes and teeth shut tight together as he breathed hard and slow trying to hold back tears of excruciating pain.  
  
"Aw damn it!" Naruto gasped wide eyed, knowing full well what he'd done. Bending down he helped Sasuke to sit up and pulled his hand away from his arm.  
  
Sasuke examined his palm, as it was dripping with blood which began trickling its way down his wrist. Naruto cringed as he looked over his arm, the dressing which had been put on it to cover the fresh stitches bellow it hand been torn off and the strings binding Sasuke's flesh had been snapped open causing blood to gush from his reopened wound.  
  
"Oh my god I'm so sorry!" Naruto said, bouncing around flusteredly, not sure of what to do.  
  
"Oh yeah, cuz that helps!" Sasuke shouted at him, trying to get to his feet, and putting all his wait on his good arm. Naruto grabbed him by the shoulders and helped him up.  
  
"Sasuke, I'm so so sorry!" Naruto continued to repeat as he watched, wide eyed, as the blood from Sasuke's arm snaked its way down his for arm and into his hand. Not only had he given him the wound in the first place with his idiocy, but he'd now proceeded to make it even worse.  
  
"Why the hell don't you watch were you're going you fucking moron!" Sasuke yelled at him, his hands shaking as his body was wracked with an intense pain that he was trying so hard to suppress.  
  
"I said I was sorry!" Naruto defended himself.  
  
"Yeah well that's really fuckin' great isn't it!" Sasuke continued to rant, "You can't just be sorry for everything! God damn it, why don't you just get lost!"  
  
"Well EXCUSE ME!" Naruto shouted back at him, his face flushing, "I'm only trying to help!"  
  
"I think you've helped enough for one day." Sasuke shook his head and began to walk off.  
  
"Hey wait! Where are you going!?"  
  
"Home."  
  
"What! You need a doctor idiot! You can't just leave your arm like that!"  
  
"Oh yeah? Watch me." he scowled and continued off down the road. Naruto ran after him, forgetting all about Nayoko and his date with his assumed destiny.  
  
"Look, you've gotta' get that fixed." Naruto insisted as he struggled to keep pace with Sasuke.  
  
"It's fine I tell you!" Sasuke shouted, his voice cracking, as Naruto could see tears welling up in his eyes.  
  
"Don't me an bastard Sasuke!" Naruto pleaded with him angrily, "This is my fault and I want to see that it gets fixed!"  
"Why the hell should you care?" Sasuke stated flatly, never looking back at Naruto as he continued walking.  
  
"I'm not just gonna let you bleed to death!"  
  
"I'm NOT going to bleed to death."  
  
"Well, maybe not, but still!" Naruto shouted. He stopped and let Sasuke walk off. He knew there was probably no way to get Sasuke to listen to him. He was too damn stubborn. Jogging to catch back up with him Naruto grabbed his shoulder to try to hold him back.  
  
"Let go of my idiot!" Sasuke shouted at him, pulling away from him.  
  
"Come on Sasuke! Really!"  
  
"Fuck off!" Sasuke yelled at him, getting right up in his face before storming off again.  
  
"Fine then! Be a stupid bastard! See if I care! But don't be complaining when Kakashi-sensei tells you you can't take part cuz you've got a fucked up arm!" Naruto shouted after him. Sasuke stopped again, his shoulders slouching forward, shaking his head and muttering something under his breath.  
  
"Fine." he sighed, knowing that Naruto was right.  
  
"Good, now come on, I know where the closest doctor is. Been there enough times." Naruto snickered a little. And with that he led a begrudging and bleeding Sasuke through the dark and silent streets of Konoha.  
  
When they arrived at the doctors house Naruto knocked on the door sharply, and they waited. When there was no answer Naruto knocked again, only louder; and a third and a fourth time, until he was nearly banging down the door.  
  
"HELLO!" he shouted at the top of his lungs.  
  
"Shhh! Shut up you moron!" Sasuke hushed him bitterly, looking up and down the streets.  
  
"Well where the hell is he?!?" Naruto exclaimed, looking thoroughly irritated.  
  
"Hey you!" Naruto and Sasuke both jumped at the sound of an agitate voice from behind them. An old man leaning out the window of the house across the street was scowling bitterly at them.  
  
"Sorry old guy!" Naruto laughed light heartedly, "But my friend needs to see the doctor!"  
  
"He's not home!" the old man told them harshly, "he's gone out to the field."  
"Well what about his wife? She's a nurse isn't she?!"  
  
"She went with him."  
  
"Well bah!" Naruto huffed, folding his arms across his chest. "We'll just have to go find someone else. There's plenty of medics in this town."  
  
"Look Naruto, can I just go home? I'm done with this. I'll be fine." Sasuke told him, sighing tiredly.  
  
"No way! We've gotta do something about your arm!"  
  
"I'll deal with it in the morning." Sasuke shrugged and turned to walk back home.  
  
"Well then at least let me redress it." Naruto suggested, noting the way it was still oozing steadily down his arm and dripping slowly from his finger tips.  
  
"Fine." Sasuke yawned, not wanting to fight anymore, and knowing Naruto would never just give up.  
  
* * * * * *  
  
When they arrived at Sasuke's small house on the outside of town he handed Naruto his key, as you had to pull the knob and turn the key at the same time to actually get the door to open.  
  
Stepping into the small dark space Naruto felt himself becoming a little uneasy, as he'd never actually been in Sasuke's house before. He flicked on a near by table lamp, casting a light glow across the room which illuminated the sparse and clutterless room; just as neat and uncomplicated as Naruto had expected it to be. There was nothing at all around to make it feel welcoming. No knick-knacks or trinkets, no personal belongings, or even clothes laying around, nothing at all; just a kitchenette, a bed, a night stand, and other random pieces of furniture, nothing but a pair of running shoes by the door to suggest that anyone even lived there. His house was as cold and uninviting as he was, and it made Naruto shiver.  
  
Sasuke kicked off his sandals and wondered into the bathroom at the far side of the room to grab a towel and some bandages. Naruto just stood their in the doorway feeling intimidated.  
  
"Here," Sasuke said, startling Naruto as he hadn't even noticed him come back, "use this." he handed him a stark white towel and a bottle of antiseptic. Sasuke grabbed a cloth from beside the sink and wiped the majority of the blood from his arm.  
  
"Here, can you help me for a sec."  
  
"Uh, sure." Naruto agreed.  
"Grab the edges of my shirt and pull it over my head."  
  
"Um, ok." Naruto nodded uneasily, stepping towards him. He grabbed the corners of Sasuke's blood soaked shirt and pulled it over his head as he bend over. Naruto tossed Sasuke's bloody shirt haphazardly into the sink before turning back to his now topless counterpart wandering over and sitting down on the edge of his bed. Naruto did likewise, sitting cross legged behind him, the gash in his arm staring back at him ominously.  
  
"I really am sorry about this." Naruto said again quietly, really meaning it sincerely.  
  
"It's no big deal." Sasuke shrugged. Leaning over, Sasuke opened up the draw of his night stand and pulled out a small wooden box. Opening it up he pulled out a pair of tweezers and some small silver scissors.  
  
"Here, use these to take the string out." Sasuke instructed him, handing them to Naruto.  
  
"What?! You're kidding!" Naruto stammered, just as much grossed out by the idea as he was nervous at the thought of hurting Sasuke again by his own instruction.  
  
"Just do it damn it. You can't leave em' in."  
  
Swallowing hard Naruto took the towel and pressed it against Sasuke's wound to blot up the excess blood. Pressing ever so slightly he hoped a bit of pressure would help to stop the bleeding, if at least for only a moment. Sasuke's back straitened and his head tipped back ever so slightly as Naruto pressed down against his gash; knowing he was hurting him deliberately made Naruto even more uneasy than he already was.  
  
"Are you sure?" Naruto whimpered, as he watched the way the blood from Sasuke's arm soaked deep into the fibers of the fresh white towel.  
  
"Yeah, yeah." Sasuke nodded. Uncrossing his legs Naruto put one on either side of Sasuke so he didn't have to reach as far.  
  
"Ok, this is going to hurt a lot." Naruto warned him as he poured some of the strong smelling antiseptic out on to a clean corner of the towel. Sasuke too a deep breath and nodded. Tentatively at first, and then all at once, Naruto pressed the soaked towel against the wound.  
  
Sasuke seethed loudly as he drew an unsteady breath through his tightly clenched teeth. He had his other hand on Naruto's knee, his nails digging sharply into his shin as he tried to keep from screaming. But Naruto didn't mind.  
  
Gently he blotted away at Sasuke cut, stopping to examen it closely and noticing that the bleeding had more or less stopped.  
  
"I don't know how to do this without hurting you." Naruto sighed, picking up the tweezers uneasily.  
  
"Then just hurt me." Sasuke told him calmly, relaxing his grip on Naruto knee. "Sorry about that." he apologized, putting his hand down in his lap.  
  
"No, it's alright." Naruto assured him as he placed a hand on Sasuke's exposed back to steady himself as he held the tweezers up to the broken threads sticking out from the back of Sasuke's arm. His skin was soft and cold under his fingers, distracting him momentarily from his task. Glancing across his shoulders Naruto noticed a small scar on the back of Sasuke's neck and wondered for a moment what it was from.  
  
"Are you going to take them out or not?" Sasuke's voice snapped him back and made him jump.  
  
"Oh, yeah." he nodded, and began to pull slowly at on end of a broken length of string. Sasuke twitched again, and clenched his fists, muttering obscenities ever so lightly under his breath.  
  
"It's ok, if you wanna scream you can." Naruto assured him with a laugh.  
  
"I'm fine." Sasuke replied stubbornly. Naruto just shook his head, wondering what the point was in denying a pain that was so blatantly obvious.  
  
* * * * * *  
  
It was a long time before Naruto had managed to pull out about half the strings in Sasuke's arm, and his fingers were begging to cramp up from his unsteady shaking and the cold breeze coming in through the open window.  
  
"Do you mind if I stop for a second?" Naruto asked, his voice seeming abnormally loud as his ears had become accustom to the silence.  
  
"No." Sasuke murmured, taking the opportunity to rub his sore shoulder and relax his tense arm.  
  
Naruto rubbed the blood from his fingers thoughtlessly on the front of his white cotton t-shirt, leaving long thick dark streaks of Sasuke's blood across his chest.  
  
"Are you hungry or anything?" Sasuke inquired, as Naruto got up uneasily from his bed.  
  
"No, I'm fine." Naruto shook his head, yawning and stretching his arms above his head and exposing his flat stomach.  
  
"You know, you don't have to do this, you can just go home if you want."  
  
"Nah," Naruto shrugged, "I figure it's the least I can do."  
  
"True." Sasuke nodded coyly, half smirking.  
  
"Hey it's not like it was on purpose!" Naruto pouted, crossing his arms defensively.  
  
"Didn't say it was," Sasuke shrugged, "not the second time anyway."  
  
"You prick! That was so NOT intentional! But I could make it be if you wanted!" Naruto shouted at him, his ears tingling at the mere suggestion that he would do such a thing.  
  
"Hey, hey, hey!" Sasuke said, getting to his feet, "I'm just buggin' you. No need to get all worked up." He shook his head mockingly as he wondered past him towards the sink.  
  
"Yeah well," Naruto huffed.  
  
Sasuke took his bloody shirt from the sink and threw it into the trash, knowing full well that it wasn't salvageable. Naruto stood there quietly, thumbing at the edges of his dark colored shorts as he watched Sasuke uneasily. The low light from the lamp shawn gold against his deathly pale skin as he rubbed the blood from the sink with his left hand, leaving his right arm to hang at his side, his half sewn wound seeming black in the dim light.  
  
Even how he cleaned his sink seemed calm. Watching the way he did things so smoothly and deliberately made Naruto feel rather drowsy, his rhythmical motions putting him to sleep.  
  
"Um, do you think I could close the window?" Naruto asked, realizing again that he was feeling rather cold in his shorts and t-shirt.  
  
"Go ahead." Sasuke nodded melancholily. "There's a sweater in second draw of my dresser you can wear too if you want." Sasuke offered, never turning to look at him.  
  
"Oh, ok." Naruto nodded, wandering over to the lone dresser on the far wall. Sliding open the draw he found a black hooded sweater neatly folded on top of several dark colored shirts. Pulling it over his head he felt as if he were swimming in the evidently larger than necessary article, but it was warm and soft against his skin and he pulled his hands inside the long sleeves, gathering up the cuffs tightly in his fists and hugging himself. Sighing deeply he noticed how strongly the soft fabric smelled of something inviting and unknown - which was no doubt Sasuke.  
  
Flopping back down on Sasuke's hard bed he rolled over on to his side, facing the wall, and closed his eyes. He let his muscles relax and his hand slip over the edge lifelessly. Tapping his fingers lightly he wondered to himself how Sasuke slept in this bed ever night. As he began to feel as though he were drifting off to sleep, it felt strange to have the presence of someone else in the room.  
  
Then, Naruto began to sense a nagging tightness in his chest, all of a sudden realizing what he hadn't before; that Sasuke was alone too. That to Sasuke it would also feel strange to sleep with someone else in his room.  
  
He'd never thought about it much; the fact that Sasuke was just as alone in life as he was, but in a completely different way. There was a time when he'd known what it was like to feel safe, with someone else watching over you from the next room, to know what it was like to be loved unconditionally. Naruto never had. But Sasuke had had that taken away from him, leaving an emptiness where Naruto had never had the chance to feel a loss.  
  
Maybe, Sasuke wasn't so bad after all. Maybe his seclusion was just his was of dealing with his loneliness, like acting out was for Naruto. After all, unlike Naruto, Sasuke was alone in a crowd. Where Naruto was shunned Sasuke was embraced, but not to his liking. Perhaps that was why he was so bitter. He spends his days being endlessly doted on, yet, he still goes home alone. Just like Naruto.  
  
Rolling over again, Naruto looked up at Sasuke, who was examining Naruto's handy work in a small mirror by the door. His dark hair half obscured his serious and emotionless eyes. Eyes which always seemed as if they'd never felt anything at all.  
  
Sensing Naruto watching him Sasuke turned to look at him, Naruto's huge blue eyes staring at him momentarily before darting away again. He shook his head and walked over to the bedside, standing over top of him as Naruto looked up at him, a look on his face like a puppy expecting to be beaten.  
  
"Would you relax." Sasuke sighed, raising an eyebrow at him morosely.  
  
"I am."  
  
"Fine," he shrugged, sitting down on the edge of his bed, "wanna finish now?"  
  
"Oh. Sure."  
  
Naruto resumed his tentative exercise in unsteady nerves as he removed the rest of the sutures from Sasuke's arm. Eventually he'd taken them all out and began to wrap his arm back up again in fresh bandages.  
  
"Thank you." Sasuke said, half whispering, as Naruto fastened the bandages tightly around his arm  
  
"You're welcome." Naruto yawned, his eyes blinking heavily. The clock on the wall was pointing to one twenty-five. Sighing deeply, relieved to be done, Naruto flopped back on the bed. Sasuke, who was still sitting between his legs, leaned back against him, his arms up on Naruto's thighs like the arms of a recliner and his head laying on Naruto's stomach.  
  
"You gonna go home now?" Sasuke inquired, emotionlessly staring up at he gray ceiling, "Cuz you can just stay here tonight if you want."  
  
"Sure." Naruto said, not even really realizing what he was agreeing to.  
  
"Why is it so cold in your house?" Naruto asked, a slight shiver running through his bare legs.  
  
"I don't know." he felt Sasuke shrug, "It just always is."  
  
"Don't suppose it could do with the fact that it feels like a prison in here." Naruto snickered lightly, feeling the weight of Sasuke's head on his stomach as he did so.  
  
"Maybe." he sighed, "But my whole life is like a prison."  
  
"Hm? What do you mean?"  
  
"Nothin'."  
  
Naruto didn't bother asking him what he meant; he was pretty sure he knew what he was talking about anyway. So they both just laid there, in Sasuke's dimly lit and dungeon like room, staring at the ceiling, with nothing but the sounds of their own breathing.  
  
Sasuke could feel every time Naruto breathed in and out, with his ear against his stomach. He yawned sleepily, feeling a cold shiver running up his spine. Sitting back up he looked down at Naruto, sprawled out on his back, eyes closed and yawning, his nose twitching as he did so.  
  
Grabbing Naruto by the ankle, his cold touch startled him awake.  
  
"Mar." he groaned, sitting up and rubbing his eyes.  
  
"It's cold, pull back the blankets would you." Sasuke told him through another yawn, rubbing his own eyes too.  
  
"K." he nodded slowly, crawling across the bed and pulling back the grayish looking bed spread. "Do you have an extra pillow?" Naruto asked, sliding down off of Sasuke's bed.  
  
"Uh huh." he nodded, "But you don't have to sleep on the floor you know."Sasuke told him, as Naruto curled up on his side on the linoleum.  
  
"Huh?" he questioned, looking up at him with one eye open.  
  
"Really. I wouldn't make you do that."  
  
"Um, ok." Naruto agreed uneasily, sitting up slowly, his hands in his lap, staring up into Sasuke's darkly shadowed eyes.  
He jumped back up on the bed as Sasuke wondered over to the closet and pulled out another pillow. Naruto threw the covers up over his head and squirmed around in them like a cat stuck under a towel before finally settling down. Sasuke threw the pillow at him from across the room, hitting him in the head.  
  
"Heyyyyyy." he groaned, half laughing, pulling the soft downy pillow under his head.  
  
Sasuke climbed into bed next to him and flicked off the lamp. His unadjusted eyes saw only black for a few moments, before he was about to pick out Sasuke's figure laying next to him in the bed, his face towards him, laying on his only good arm. Even Sasuke's half closed ebony colored eyes seemed bright in the darkness of his single windowed room.  
  
Naruto was sure he saw a hint of a smile on his face as he closed his eyes, and left Naruto wondering what he was even doing there. He studied Sasuke's pale, sharp featured face, in the darkness as he lay there awake; his ivory colored skin and long dark eye lashes making him look almost fragile. The same strong, angry, and at times volatile Sasuke who he knew in the day seemed to have disappeared all together, leaving just a lonely, self secluding, boy.  
  
Sasuke's eyes blinked open again, looking back at Naruto, startling him and making his face flush.  
  
"What are you think about?" he whispered.  
  
"Nothing really." Naruto lied.  
  
"Really," he questioned.  
  
"I bet Sakura-chan would be real mad if she found out I stayed over here." Naruto smiled, imaging the looking on her face.  
  
"No doubt," Sasuke sighed, "I should tell her. Maybe she'll get upset and leave me alone for a day."  
  
"I doubt it." Naruto shook his head, knowing something so petty would never deter her.  
  
"Well, I can wish can't I?"  
  
"Yeah, I suppose." he laughed lightly. "But at least she likes you at all. She hates me."  
  
"She doesn't hate you." Sasuke assured him.  
  
"Yeah right. It'd take a miracle to get her to notice me." he groaned, feeling a little disheartened.  
  
"Or a magic crow." Sasuke smiled, thinking of that mornings escapade.  
"Ye," he began, and then he remembered. Nayoko. She'd been taking him to her when this whole thing had happened.  
  
"That's so pathetic," Sasuke continued, sounding humored, "I hope you don't actually believe what Kakashi-sensei said."  
  
"No, of course not," Naruto said, his voice trailing off at the end as he was having a thought. What if, what if he wasn't supposed to be going to Sakura's at all?  
  
He looked back over at Sasuke, who had rolled over on to his back and was staring up at the ceiling again, an unusually content look on his face.  
  
"Sasuke,"  
  
"Yeah?" he turned back to look at him.  
  
"Never mind." he sighed, and rolled over on to his back as well.  
  
They both laid there quietly, awake, and staring at the roof.  
  
"What if I was supposed to run into Sasuke? What if that was the whole point?" Naruto began to question in his head. His heart was beginning to beat a little faster in his chest now. Sasuke rolled over again, closer to him, tucking his arm under his pillow and closed his eyes. Naruto looked over at him, his deep black hair hanging over his face, and he found himself wanting to push it out of the way.  
  
"Sasuke." Naruto whispered.  
  
"Uh huh." he replied, not opening his eyes.  
  
"Do you like me?"  
  
"What do you mean?" he asked.  
  
"Do you like me." he said again.  
  
"Of course I like you you idiot." Sasuke sighed, "I wouldn't put up with your shit every day if I didn't."  
  
"I guess not."  
  
"Besides, would I let you sleep in my bed if I hated you?" he pointed out, opening one eye and smirking at him as if to tell him he was being ridiculous.  
  
"I guess not." He nodded.  
Naruto shuffled down under the covers more, wrapping himself up tightly in Sasuke's warm sweater and dismissing his uncertainties. Rolling over and closing his eyes, their bodies were so close they could feel each others breath against their skin as they breathed.  
  
Adjusting his shorts Naruto felt his hand graze against Sasuke's ever so slightly, making his heart skip a beat.  
  
"What are you so nervous for?" he asked himself. But his self had no rational explanation.  
  
"Do you ever get lonely here?" Naruto whispered again, all these little questions picking at his mind.  
  
"Hmm?" Sasuke opened his eyes again, blinking a few times when he noticed how close they were. "I guess so." he shrugged, looking back at Naruto.  
  
"I never really thought about it before. That you live alone too I mean."  
  
"It's ok." Sasuke assured him, "I try not to think about it myself."  
  
"Me too." Naruto sighed.  
  
"But it's not so bad as all that." Sasuke told him, "I mean, I'm not really alone."  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"I mean, I have Sakura, and Kakashi-sensei, and you. Don't I?" he pointed out.  
  
"I guess you're right. I never really thought about it like that."  
  
"But that's how you have to think about it." Sasuke whispered, his gaze falling away from Naruto's as his voice trailed off, "If you don't,"  
  
"It just gets too bad." Naruto finished for him.  
  
"Yeah."  
  
They lay there in silence, eyes fixed on one another, as if they could see though one another. There was so much about Sasuke that he hadn't understood, but now, somehow Naruto felt as if he was really no different from him at all.  
  
This time he didn't stop himself from reaching out and pushing the hair from in front of Sasuke's eyes. And Sasuke didn't stop him either.  
  
"Naruto." Sasuke whispered, nearly inaudibly.  
  
"Yeah." he whispered back.  
  
"Do you like me?"  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"Do you like me."  
  
"Of course I do you idiot." he mimicked, causing a smiled to wander across Sasuke's visibly sleepy face.  
  
Sasuke reached out and did the same to Naruto, pushing his light spiky hair from around his face. He closed his eyes gently as he felt Sasuke's hand brush against his face, his finger tips tracing a path around his ear and down his jaw.  
  
Naruto rolled over on to his front, and Sasuke on to his back, Naruto's head coming to rest against Sasuke's shoulder. Sasuke reached across himself and wrapped his fingers around the back of Naruto's neck, his fingers entwining themself in the short, soft, hair at the back of his neck. Naruto couldn't help but reach his arm across Sasuke's bare chest and pull himself closer to him, burying his face deeper into his neck. Breathing deeply Naruto smiled as he noticed the way Sasuke's skin smelled the same way as his sweater did.  
  
Sasuke looked down at the innocent little blond boy curled up against him and smiled at the way the whisker-like marks on his face looked in the odd shadows. Leaning his head forward his kissed Naruto gently on the forehead.  
  
His cheeks and ears were tingling, as the feeling of Sasuke's lips against his skin lingered for a moment. Propping himself up on his elbow Naruto looked down at Sasuke, his dark eyes fixed on his own, a questioning expression on his face. But Naruto just smiled.  
  
"I guess we don't have to go to sleep alone for once." she smirked.  
  
"I guess not." Sasuke smiled back at him.  
  
And Naruto leaned down, his other hand beside Sasuke's head hold him up, and kissed him lightly on the mouth, his own warm skin touching lightly against Sasuke's narturally cool lips. When he let go he lingered a moment, staring down into his soft black eyes. But somehow they looked different then before, less like death, and more like heaven. And he couldn't help but kiss him again.  
  
Somewhere, in the darkness over Konoha that night, there was an unassuming black crow looking down across the city. And if you were there to see her then, you probably wouldn't have even though twice.  
  
The End 


End file.
